If you have male descendants to test, yes, you should be able to determine
whether or not they have a near common patrilineal ancestor. The generation of
the descendant really doesn't matter. The important thing is that they be males
descended through an unbroken series of males from the presumed ancestor.

Diana
Disclaimer: I'm not an employee of FTDNA, but I do run six projects there.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: [mailto:genealogy-dna-
> ] On Behalf Of Vern Prescott
> Sent: Monday, November 01, 2010 11:57 PM
> To:
> Subject: [DNA] DNA questions for a beginner
>
> Hello List members
>
> I have joined the list to seek guidance from people with experience with DNA
testing.
> I hope I am able to put my questions in a way that people will understand.
>
> Let me briefly describe my situation. My great grandmother was never married
but
> had 6 children. She had two sons, one being my grandfather. I have just
managed to
> determine who my grandfather's brother was, and am in touch with some of his
> descendants. Now for my questions?
>
> 1. I would like to try DNA on myself and on a second cousin, if I get
agreement,
> thinking that I would be able to determine if my grandfather and his brother
had the
> same father or different fathers.
> a) Am I correct in thinking that DNA would do this for me? ( both I and
the other
> person would be male line descendants)
> b) If I can not get agreement form a second cousin, would it be advisable
to use my
> son and his third cousin rather than myself and a second cousin, once removed?
I
> would think that keeping the same generation would make for an easier
comparison.
> c) what type of DNA testing would be required to do this?
>
> 2. My grandfather also had sisters, one of whom had a "surname" as a middle
name,
> possibly suggesting parentage. If I discover that my grandfather and his
brother had
> the same father, am I correct in thinking that I could then check against data
from
> people of the "other" surname to see if there was a match, and possibly find
my great
> grandfather (or his brother) by doing so?
> Given a start, I could use other, more conventional techniques, to try to
determine
> the correct lineage.
>
>
> My reasoning is that if two sons had the same father, possibly all the
children had the
> same father. I assume this is a long shot, but better than any other methods
> available.
>
> Vern in Ontario
>
>
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